Past Review
By Matt N (Math and Economics, Tufts University) for
CET Beijing
Personal Information
| The term and year this program took place: | Spring 2008 |
Review Your Program
|
* Overall educational experience
Academic rigor, intensity, resources, etc. |
Too much memorization, too little application- and excessively large amounts of memorization homework means little time for actual immersion. |
|
* Host Country Program Administration
On-site administration of your program |
Chinese administrations run as if they are not connected to what they are administering. This means that if you have a complaint of any sort, the administration has absolutely no idea what to do with themselves to help you. This is true of almost any Chinese institution. |
|
* Housing:
How satisfied were you with your living arrangements? |
The living is in a dorm with Chinese roommates and a language pledge. The language pledge is a waste of time and effort, and results in very anti-social living (doors aren't allowed to be open if there is any English in your room, be it music, talking to friends/family at home, etc). The roommates are fantastic though, and their English is generally bad enough to make the best common language Chinese, which is a good thing. <br /><br /> The location, in XiZhiMen, is rather out of the way for the rest of Beijing. This is good, but means that you meet very few Chinese peers. A location at a real college (Beijing Institute of Education has only a few students- it is a bubble for this small 60 person program) would help. |
| * Food: |
The school's food is not very good and only available for one meal a day, but (Chinese) food is readily available in the area. |
|
* Social & Cultural Integration:
How integrated did you feel with the local culture? |
The program really has no idea what to do with social aspects. Everything will have to be done on your own, at the expense of "valuable homework time." Do it. |
|
* Health Care:
How well were health issues addressed during the program? |
|
| * Safety: |
|
| If you could do it all over again would you choose the same program? |
No
|
Finances
|
* Money: How easily were you able to live on a student's budget?
(1 = not very easy/$200+ on food & personal expenses/week, 2.5 = $100/week, 5 = very easily/minimal cost) |
|
| Not including program expenses, about how much money did you spend on food and other expenses each week? | If you do not go out and only eat Chinese food, you can easily live on $30 per week. If you do go out to a Western meal, bar, or club (of which there are many), you pay American prices. |
Language
| How would you rate your language skills at the beginning of the program? | None |
| Language acquisition improvement? |
The program helped my skills very little, but staying in Beijing for the summer and living on my own helped tremendously. |
Other Program Information
|
* Where did you live?
Select all that apply |
|
|
* Who did you take classes with?
Select all that apply |
|
A Look Back
| * What do you know now that you wish you knew before going on this program? | If you do this program, remember that you are in China to learn Chinese. You are not in China to get good grades- you can do this at home. |
